British liquid air energy storage (LAES) developer Highview Power has inked a collaboration deal with Canadian industrialist SNC-Lavalin to deploy its “air liquefaction”-based technology at utility-scale through a series of projects in North America.
The two companies are targeting utilities and independent power producers (IPP) with “long duration energy storage requirements”, with an EPC package encompassing engineering, procurement, project management, construction, commissioning, and operations and maintenance.
“Long duration energy storage such as Highview’s LAES is one of the key technologies that will enable our utility and large industrial facility clients to maximise the value of their renewable energy investments through increased levels of integration with the grid,” said Marie-Claude Dumas, president of SNC-Lavalin’s Clean Power business.
“We look forward to working together by applying our engineering, construction management and project financing expertise to successfully deploy liquid air energy storage systems across North America.”
Highview Power’s LAES technology is rooted in the principle of air liquefaction, which makes it possible to store gases in cryogenic liquid form.
When the process is reversed – a 700-fold expansion in volume from liquid back to gas – the stored energy is released, powering turbines and generating electricity, meaning energy can be stored for days rather than hours, as with mainstream Li-ion batteries.
Highview Power most recently won £1.5m ($2m) of funding from UK technology development agency Innovate UK to develop a new hybrid configuration adding flywheels and supercapacitors.
Analyst group Navigant Research forecasts the utility-scale energy storage market to be worth over $3.6bn by 2025.
